Mother George : Fort Wayne's angel of mercy

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Sadler, Hilary A „
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Hilary J5l. Sa-dler

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Mrs. Eliza E. George
1808 - 1865

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prepared by tf\e Staff of tf\e ^^v«am

_. Public Library of p^ort TiDayne ar\S 5^11en County

1964

Al^en County Public Library
900 Webster Strwt

K^'e! m 46801-2270

FortV«a^e.lM6801-227U

Board of Trustees of the Public Library
of Fort Wayne and Allen County

Charles Slater, President

Allan J. Tremper, Vice-President
Phillip Sanborn, Secretary

Arthur J. Meyer, Treasurer
Mrs. Richard E. Buirley
Leslie S. Fry

Mrs. Mark Knoblauch

Public Library Board
for Allen County

The members of this board include the members of the above board
(with the same officers) together with the following citizens chosen
from Allen County outside the corporate city of Fort Wayne.

Mrs. Frank EKilin
James E. Graham

Gerald W. Morsches

Mrs. Charles Reynolds

FOREWORD

This essay on the career of Mother George,
Civil War nurse, was originally published in four in-
stallments in Sunday issues of the Fort Wayne JOUR-
NAL-GAZETTE, on November 24, December 1, 8,
and 15. Mother George, as she was affectionately de -
nominated by the soldiers who knew her, was defin-
itely but mysteriously connected with Fort Wayne and
possibly with the Sion Bass family. Mr. Hilary Sad-
ler, the author has pursued the faint trails she has
left and has assembled all available facts. The search
has been long and baffling. The attainment of the
meager results however is a subject for high com-
mendation. At long last a colorful character has
been rescued from obscurity; her indubitable merits
both humane and patriotic have been heralded; and
one more of Fort Wayne's long list of eminent men
and women has been elevated to her rightful place in
our hall of fame.

Mr. Sadler has worked long and with all avail-
able media. He has exhausted all known pertinent
materials. Unfortunately it is likely that nothing will
ever be added to the story supplied by his indefatiga-
ble researches.

The original text as published in the Fort
Wayne JOURNAL -GAZETTE has been subjected to
some editorial emendation in the interest of brevity;
some rhetorical changes have brought the text in
harmony with practices employed in other publications
of this library.

Mrs. Eliza E. George, known to Indiana Civil
War soldiers as Mother George, accompanied Hoosier
troops through battles and skirmishes for two and a
half years before falling victim to an attack of typhoid
fever at Wilmington, North Carolina. She died just
one month to the day after Lee's surrender at Appo-
mattox Courthouse, Virginia. Eliza George never
knew of her fame. It came after her death, but it
served to make her name a household word a century
ago.

Mrs. George was the first and perhaps the
only woman to be interred in a local cemetery with
full military honors ... a tribute which she fully
deserved. She was buried at Lindenwood in the family
plot of Fort Wayne's other great Civil War hero, Col.
Sion S. Bass who had fallen at the Battle of Shiloh.
The Sanitary Commission of Indiana erected a granite
monument to her memory. Today, this weathered
old shaft is the only visible marker for her grave a
dozen yards away. Maps of Fort Wayne in 1874 and
1895 show that a street was named for her. Only the
marker on the wall above a paint store on Broadway
remains to recall her existence. "The Last Train
from Atlanta, " by A. A. Hoehling, published in 1958,
is one of a dozen or more historical works which re-
fers to Mother George from Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Nothing else remains of the fame of this great lady.
A diligent search of newspaper microfilm files, dusty
old city files, and church records, revealed only one
brief reference to her. The records of The First
Methodist Church of Fort Wayne, then known as Berry
Street Church, prove that she was a full member of

that congregation. A single line entry states that
"Elizabeth George, widow, died of the Great Fever
in North Carolina. " The Lindenwood burial records
refer to her as "George. "

The epitaph on Elizabeth George's monument
in Lindenwood Cemetery laconically indicates that
she was born at Bridport, Vermont, October 20, 1808.
A search of all clues furnished very few additional
facts on her personal life. She was born Elizabeth
Hamilton and later married a W. L. George.

The early Fort Wayne City Directory lists
Mrs. George as residing on the north side of Berry
Street between Barr and Lafayette. There were no
street numbers then in suburban areas. In 1860 the
census report lists:

Eliza George --Landlady, Age 42, $400

Belle George --Housemaid, Age 21, Born New York

Jennie George --Housemaid, Age 16, Born Kentucky

All three were listed as residing at the same
address, on the north side of Wilt between Fulton and
Broadway. There the record ends, except that in 1861
her daughter. Belle, resided at 139 W. Washington.
It was not until recent weeks that the long forgotten
will of daughter Belle disclosed the fact Mrs. George
had a third daughter, Eliza M.

These scanty records comprise all tangible
evidence of the life of Eliza George in Fort Wayne
prior to January, 1863. Then, more than 50 years of
age, she applied for acceptance as a nurse with the
Indiana Agent of the Sanitary Commission, a forerun-
ner of the Army Nurse Corps.

Writing in 1866, Frank More reported in his
WOMEN OF THE WAR. that

. . . sometime in January, 1863, Mr. Hanna-

The Fort Wayne street that was the site of Mrs.
George's last home here, was named for her some
time after the end of the conflict as this picture
shows. The street, however, has long since been
renamed, and only the meaningless marker on the
side of this store remains as the city's only recogni-
tion of its greatest heroine.

man, the General Military agent for the State of Indi-
ana, received a note from correspondents at Fort
"Wayne, recommending Mrs. E. E. George of their
city as a lady well qualified to serve as a hospital
nurse. A few days later, Mrs. George called on him;
she tendered her services. He could not at that mo-
ment assign her to a field of labor, and she went to
Chicago, hoping to find her services required by the
Sanitary Commission. While there, Mr. Hannaman
received advices from Memphis, informing him of a
great demand there for care and treatment of those
who were wounded at the first assault on the Southern
defenses at Vicksburg. Hospital transports had
brought the wounded to Memphis; a large number of
nurses could find immediate employment there. He
telegraphed at once to Mrs. George and she presented
herself at the Sanitary rooms. Her age constituted a
barrier to her emplo)mient; she had reached that pe-
riod in life which suggests the quiet of the fireside
and the comforts of home, rather than a rude, chang-
ing and wearing succession of exhausting toils and
midnight vigils. This objection was suggested to her.
"True," she replied, "I am old; but my health is
good, and I desire to do something for those who ev-
ery day expose their lives for our country. If unable
to go through as much as some, I will engage never
to be at all troublesome or in the way."

The opposition on technical grounds to Mrs.
George collapsed. She was accepted.

With those words Eliza George, 54 years old,
went to war and made nursing history. With a group
of other Hoosier women, Eliza George arrived in
Memphis, Tennessee, in the spring of 1863 and re-
mained there until the fall of that year. Tlie over-
worked Army doctors and hard-pressed staff officers
soon realized her value as a nurse. Her dedication

and the rising tide of battle casualties readily gained
for her official permission to work in every ward in
all the hospitals in Memphis. Governor Morton of
Indiana sent her a special order to inquire after and
care for all the sick and wounded of the Indiana regi -
ments. She honored this request without exception
to the end of her career.

Officially little is known of Eliza George. The
only remaining reference to her in the files of the
National Archives concerns this early period of her
career. A hospital Muster Roll card dated March
and April, 1863, indicates that she was attached as a
nurse on those dates to the Union U.S.A. Hospital,
Memphis, Tennessee.

Frank More in his book, speaks of her indoc-
trination into the horrors of war,

Her excellent practical sense, and the Chris-
tian meekness of her character made her a suitable
person to be invested with unusual authority, while
her age and the elevation of her motives won involun-
tary respect and admiration from all those with whom
she was connected. During the spring and summer
of 1863 her labors In Memphis hospitals were un-
ceasing. Early In the fall of that year she permitted
herself a short respite, visiting her friends in Fort
Wayne, but in October she returned to Memphis.

Mrs. George's compassion for the suffering
of the wounded and dying, earned for her the title of
"Mother." She carried the name to her grave and it
alone appears in the inscription on the tombstone
which she shares with a daughter inLindenwood Cem-
etery.

Only two known letters from Mother George
remain; portions of several others that have long
since disappeared are quoted in THE SOLDIER OF

INDIANA IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION by Merrill
and Company. One is datelined Memphis, Tennessee,
May 18, 1863, evidently written to her two grown
daughters, Belle and Jennie, living at the time in Fort
Wayne. It reads in part, "My Dear Ones ... It would
make your heart ache to go through the long wards
and see the pale faces, the sad and sorrowful eyes
that follow your every step."

Returning from leave in Fort Wayne in Octo-
ber, 1863, Mother George was transferred to Corinth,
Mississippi. Operations in the Western Theater now
began to stabilize and to move from Vicksburg to
Eastern Tennessee. She made frequent trips between
Memphis and Corinth, a distance of about 80 miles.
Her duties included the delivery from the Sanitary
Commission of hospital supplies and comforts to the
men. The wagons in which she rode with her precious
supplies were often fired on by guerillas and squads
of Confederate cavalry; possibility of death in the line
of duty did not seem to phase her.

The only two known existing letters penned by
Mother George were written during her stay here in
Corinth. They were brought to light recently among
the effects of Alan T. Nolan, Indianapolis attorney.
William J. Nolan of Company I of the 66th Indiana
Volunteers was the latter' s great-grandfather. Wil-
liam Nolan died on November 3, 1863, at the Army
hospital at Corinth, Mississippi; he was buried in the
National Cemetery there. Mother George was his
nurse. Although her duties did not require it, she
wrote this letter to Nolan's widow:

Mrs. Nolan --Enclosed is $10 which your hus-
band entrusted to my care to send you; he is or was
very sick when I left Corinth last Saturday but I pre-
sume you will get a letter telling you all this which
was written at his request last week. It is no safer

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This faded Muster Roll card is a mute reminder of
Mother George's first hospital assignment at Mem-
phis, Tenn. The card is the only remaining evidence
of her service found in the National Archives, Wash-
ington, D.C.

to send money by Express now than it is by mail.
Your Husband thought I should send it in a letter if
you get this write me immediately direct to Mrs. E.
E. George Memphis Tenn in care of Dr. Jobes Indiana
Agent and I will send you more I return to Corinth to-
morrow but the Dr. will forward me your letter.

My Dear Mrs. Nolan your Husband is perfectly
resigned and wishes you to remember God doeth all
things well he is well taken care of has a good lady
nurse and I am here to procure comforts for the sick
I hope he may get well but should he not he wishes
you to keep the family together and not let the boys
go into the Army answer immediately with much love
for you in your trials I remain your friend . . . Mrs.
E. E. George, Sanatary Agent for Ind.

Mrs. George had no knowledge, of course, that
Mr. Nolan died the same day her letter was written.
When General Sherman's Army left Corinth a few
days later and moved up the Tennessee River to re-
inforce Grant at Chattanooga, Mother George also left.
While aboard the Steamer Arizona on November 25,
1863, she wrote the second letter, directed to Gay,
Mr. Nolan's oldest son. It reads:

Your letter was handed me on board the Ari-
zona the morning I left Corinth & I hasten to reply
knowing the agony of suspense. I would surely have
rendered all the assistance in my power had I re-
mained at Corinth as it is can only give you a more
minute ac't of the last days and wishes of your Dear
Father. I did not go to Corinth until the last week of
Your Father's pilgrimage found him very sick and
desirous of conversing of home and the things that
pertain to the Spirit -Land Said he had served his
country faithfully & laid down his life in a just and
good cause & if the Lord Jesus called for him he was

ready and willing to go. He wished your Motlier to
keep the ehildren togetlier and teach them to love their
God and the Country their Father had given his life to
save. He repeated the words "to save for madam, it
will be saved. "

And I believed him too. He was not suffering
much, but was wasted very much in flesh. He rec'd
every attention after we went to the hospital and ap-
peared to think if we had come sooner he would have
lived. Tliere was no female nurses there until 1 went
and took 3 ladies & a good supply of Sanatary Stores
& if there is a man in America opposed to Lady Nurs -
es let him be sick in hospital left to the tender mer-
cies of male nurses & they half sick at that & I think
his prejudices will be removed. A woman that is
what God made lier & intended that should be will be
a lady in hospital & everywhere else. I was not with
your Father when Ins Spirit took its flight having been
sent back to Memphis to get supplies for the hospital
lie fell asleep the night after I left, I do not know that
he liad any keepsake he gave me his money to send I
enclosed 10 dol . to your Mother as he directed & will
send 10 more from Cairo.

I was on the Arizona when I received your
letter but I showed it to the Doct. in charge and the
Gen. Ward Master requesting as a favour to myself
they would render every assistance in their power
should you send for the Body which they promised. I
am on my way to Chatinoga to help establish a Hos-
pital posibly 1 may be at Evansville if I do and stop
long enough I will surely find your Mother. My Young
Friend I may never see your face but I honour and
respect you for the kind filial and affectionate manner
you speak of your Father. May God bles you Make
you an honour to your Country & your Name & in a
coming day give you a seat at his right hand. Tlie
boat rocks so I can hardly write, what you can not

read you must gues witii Respect I remain . . . Your
Well Wisher, Mrs. E. E. George ... He often spoke
of your Mother & remembered his children with all of
a Father's love.

A final request of Soldier Nolan was passed
along to his widow, but it is noticeably missing in
Mother George's touching letter to his son. Her
fierce pride in her work was exceeded only by her
love for her country. It would never permit her to
suggest to young Gay Nolan that his Father desired
him never to enter the Army.

While Mother George thought she was enroute
to Chattanooga with Sherman's troops late in 1863,
she was sidetracked at Pulaski, Tennessee, some 70
miles south of Nashville. With the assistance of Mrs.
Porter and Mrs. Bickerdyke, both well-known Civil
War nurses, she opened a military hospital at Pulaski
and remained there several months. EXiring this pe-
riod she made several trips to Indiana, not to visit,
but to collect needed hospital supplies and to trans-
port them to Pulaski. She did her best to distribute
promptly the stores of drugs, clothing and food when
they arrived. Her boys believed they could count on
her even when the military was bogged down in red
tape.

Her success in slicing through military tape
is testified to in this glowing tribute written by the
doctor in charge of the Pulaski hospital and printed in
the May 27, 1864, issue of the Fort Wayne DAILY
GAZETTE .

Pulaski, Tenn.
April 12, 1864

To The Ladies Soldiers' Aid Society
Fort Wayne, Ind.

I am happy for the opportunity of bearing tes-
timony m Behalf of the valuable serviees of your faith-
ful and effieient agent, Mrs. E. E. George.

It was my fortune to have charge of the Pulaski
General Hospitalm its infancy. During several weeks
of this time more than a hundred brave men pros-
trated by disease and wounds were without change of
beds or bed clothes in which deplorable condition
several died. But for the appearance of Mrs. George
and her sanitary stores, I know not how long this dis-
tress must have continued . Stores tliat she had guard-
ed through an entire week (God bless her brave moth-
erly heart) of inclement December weather during
their tedious passage from Nashville, but I do know
tliat her arrival wrought a Christian miracle- -that
scores of languishing soldiers were suddenly purified
and clad in garments of sufficient elegance and great
comfort.

Furthermore I know that her Sanitary delica-
cies for the sick man's palate have proved of great
benefit and those who were laboring under extreme
physical prostration have had at times only Mrs.
George to look to for such stimulants as were neces-
sary to hold soul and body together.

Now, while 1 acknowledge the valuable and
timely relief from your worthy agent I am not unmind-
ful of the labors and generous contributions from the
devoted and patriotic ladies of chivalrous Indiana and
more especially of such of them as compose thehuman
society I have now the pleasure to address, and whose
humble servant I have the honor to be.

Wm. Flearry
Surgeon 12th Illinois

In June of 1864 Mother George was on the move
again. A letter written to her friends in Fort Wayne

appeared in the June 10, 1864, issue of the DAILY
GAZETTE . Her vivid word picture of the horrors of
war displays not only the compassion that made her
one of this country's great heroines, but also illus-
trates the fact that she was a better than average war
correspondent.

Chattanooga,
lune 1, 1864

Ed. Gazette I left Huntsville, Alabama on the
8th of May, about 12 o'clock at night -dark as dark
nights can be. Within three miles of Stevenson we
were fired into by the guerrillas and our engineer
badly wounded . . . Fortunately we had two engineer
on the train proceeded with safety to this place. I
stopped at the room of the US Commission where I
received every attention in their power to render.

Mr. Turner, our agent here procured an am-
bulance and Col. Taylor of Ohio was my escort to the
hospital. I found want existing everywhere --want that
could be alleviated by proper attention.

On Monday morning at 7 o'clock in company
with Mrs. Horner and our state agent I started in the
hospital train for Kingston, Georgia after a load of
wounded. Kingston is some 75 or 80 miles from this
place.

We arrived in time to witness one of the sad-
dest sights I ever witnessed. An ambulance train
brought in 1200 wounded men. A large number were
slightly wounded or at least in hands and feet, some
with two fingers carried away, some through the
hand, etc. There were 75 with amputated legs and
arms some wounded in the head, in feet, in every
form and manner. They were of the 20th Corps.,
Hooker's division, in which was the 27th, 33rd, 85th
and 70th regiment. They all suffered there full share.

Col. McDougal, of the 133rd New York Inft.,
lost his right leg and though suffering intensely, was
enthusiastic for his country, and only regretted that
he could do no more. A Captain Bigelow of the 19th
Michigan, died in the cars on the way down and three
more in a dying condition.

The report from the front was both armies had
fought hard all day. (30th) with out any particular
advantage on either side, the rebels falling back with-
in their breast works at night.

The rebels shelled our hospital at Dallas and
wounded many the second time.

I leave tomorrow for Kingston and shall re-
main there until it ceases to be a stopping place for
our wounded. I never more heartily blessed the Sani-
tary Commission than I did last Monday night. Mr.
Merrit, our Relief Agent was here, and he not only
did honor humanity's cause but to the state he repre-
sents. There is room for men like him. He is going
to open a room at Kingston.

Every foot of country here shows it is the the-
ater of war. I am sitting in sight of Look Out Moun-
tain and wondering how our people ever scaled its
summit, and for ages to come it will be a wonder.

The 44th is here doing provost duty. Col.
Aldredge, who has just left the office, reports his
men healthy and in good condition. The Col. is look-
ing well .

The rebels owe us a spite and like to express
it whenever they dare. They put a torpedo on the
railroad track between Huntsville and Stevenson the
other night, which was accidently exploded by an old
horse roaming around.

The hour has expired, and wishing to be re-
membered to all my friends, I remain yours truly,

Mrs. E. E. George

With Mrs. Porter and Mrs. Bickerdyke, she
shared the hardships of Sherman's 15th Corps as they
moved into Georgia and fought Joe Johnston's stub-
bornly dogged Confederates across the bloody miles
to Resaca, Kennesaw Mountain and finally before the
portals of Atlanta.

Through the entire North Georgia Campaign
she worked in the field . . . sometimes at the front,
often at night as well as all day. She tended the
wounded after the battles, bandaging their wounds and
giving them water to ease their parched throats. She
frequently worked to the extent of her endurance;
wrapped in a rough Army blanket she would fall asleep
under a tree or a wagon only to be awakened in a few
hours by the pitiful moans of the suffering men around
her. Excerpts from two notes written at Marietta,
Georgia, shortly after the battle of Kennesaw Moun-
tain tell of the wearing effects of this cruel day and
night pace:

Our soldiers are becoming exhausted physi-
cally, but tlieir spirit is stronger and more defiant
than ever. I am perfectly astonished to hear them
talk, even while they are writhing with the pain of
crushed and amputated limbs.

A letter, to her daughters in Fort "Wa3nie,
dealt with her deep spiritual concern for her home,
herself and her country. She said in part:

Strive above all petty considerations to make
your home happy, to make it what it should be, a holy,
happy place. I want you should kneel down together
every night and pray for your absent mother and your
suffering country.

The latter two notes, quoted in a publication

dated 1869, undoubtedly were polished with liberal
applications of literary liberty. The grammar, the
punctuation and the spelling differ considerably from
the original notes written to the Nolan family.

As Joe Johnston continued his defensive ma-
neuvering before Sherman's onrushing troops, he re-
tired into the protective confines of Atlanta. There
a dissatisfied Confederate high command relieved
him and substituted the reckless old war horse, John
Bell Hood. After a prolonged siege, Atlanta fell.
Mother George now became connected with the 15th
Corps Hospital. When this Corps marched on Jones -
boro, south of Atlanta, Mother George at the earnest
request of the men themselves, became the only
woman to accompany them .

Just four days before the decisive Battle of
Jonesboro, Mother George penned her last dispatch
to the readers of the DAILY GAZETTE. In this letter
she mentions several Fort Wayne soldiers and proves
to be a master of understatement as she describes
her feelings as a shell exploded within seven yards of
where she had been standing but moments before.

U.S. Sanitary Commission

Hospital 4th Division,

15th Army Corps,

Near Atlanta, Aug. 25th, 1864

Ed . Gazette I want to give you a little idea of
where I am and what I am doing ere I leave this beau-
tiful spot, which might be termed a sylvan retreat
were it not for the cries of distress and the moans of
the dying which hourly assail my ears. I am within
two miles of Atlanta, have seen the city a number of
times from a hill a short distance from Camp. The
hill, so densely shaded with forest trees, that we can-
not be seen, otherwise we might be shelled out, as it

is within range of their lead messengers. Upon our
right is the Hospital of the 1st and 2nd divisions, a
little to our left is the hospitals of the 16th and 17th
Army Corps, and altogether we make a very respect-
able little city--like all other cities, we have our
resting place for the dead; attached to each division
is a spot of ground (rudely enclosed) where sleep
those noble, brave, heroic men that have battled for
the right and given their lives to save their country
from being made a second Mexico. A board with the
same rank and regiment marks each grave, and though
the thunder of cannon is hourly sounding in our ears,
it will disturb their slumbers no more. We have but
22 in our hospital today, not including surgeons and
attendants. We have sent our sick and wounded to
Marietta, preparatory to a move. I have a tent very
well filled with Sanitaries; it is something of a novel-
ty, being the first and only thing of the kind thus far
in the front and elicits much praise for Ind. But I am
not indebted to Indiana alone for my goods; the Chris-
tian, United States and Western Commissions each
have supplied me liberally, and will continue to while
I continue to give good satisfaction of a distributor.
I have been very fortunate in securing the confidence
of the other Commissions. It enables me to distri-
bute more generously and my heart fairly dances with
joy when I get an opportunity to send anything to the
men lying in the rifle pits. My tent is far famed and
receives as many customers as a fancy store and I
hope my friends at home will aid in keeping up my
stock of goods.

August 26- -I shall finish this letter and send
it if it is in two pieces. Yesterday I layed aside my
letter to attend to supper. The order came to move;
we ate our supper and in 30 minutes were loaded up
and drove out of the lines, drove about 2 miles. Some
of the men complained of Dr. Kates' selection of

ground. It was on a hill directly opposite, and in
range of a rebel battery. The men were ordered to
take the horses from the ambulances, but not unhar-
ness them. I made my bed in the ambulance^ and
slept finely --soon after daylight there came a shell
and exploded within 30 yards of us --those who knew
the danger, expressed more fear than I did. Soon
came another about 10 yards nearer. Our division
started without orders, and within 10 minutes after
we left, came another one that exploded within 7 yards
of where we stood; we were standing in the advance
line. Had we remained there much longer we might
have been hurt, or badly scared at least. We are
now in a beautiful place awaiting orders, have not
unloaded or pitched a tent. I am sitting in the am-
bulance writing; have just eaten my dinner, am suf-
fering more from a heated atmosphere today than any
other dav this summer.

If the rebels do not conclude to quietly evacu-
ate Atlanta today or tonight we may possibly take a
little trip South. Should we get along well, so that my
services could be dispensed with, don't you think it
would be a good idea for me to attend the Fair? Dr.
Moore tells me that if I get this letter mailed for
many days I shall be indebted to some carrier for it.
We have cut loose from all communication North, and
it may be days, or weeks before we will again be
within reach of postal communications. If I am taken
prisoner I must abide my time. The little good I have
enabled to do today, has more than paid me for the
risk. Major Baldwin, Captain Nelson, George A.
Craw and Captain Farran were to see me yesterday.
The men are all well but wearied. This has been a
long, hard campaign, and our troops are all wearied
physically, but the spirit is strong, the convictions
of right and duty as firm as ever. If the defenders
of our flag and national honor were not classed with

felons and denied the right of citizenship our pending
elections would be all right.

August 29 --It would be contraband to tell you
where I am, but I am in the midst of war 30 miles
from a place of acknowledged safety. It will doubt-
less be many days ere I can hear from home again.
We are where there are but two ways to settle the
question, success in battle or a foot race. Our troops
have thus far been successful in all they have under-
taken. I humbly pray the God of Hosts they may con-
tinue to be --military men pronounce this one of the
greatest movements of the day. I am pained to learn
the state of things at home and Indianapolis. Is it
possible that our country is to be bartered cheaper
than Esau sold his birthright? I have a chance to send
this to headquarters and must close. My health is
good.

Mrs. E. E. George

The Indianapolis NEWS of February 6, 1901,
relates two stories about Mother George that are
typical of her devotion to duty and great feeling for
the men whom she tended. The NEWS relates:

On one occasion she sat for 20 hours holding
a wounded soldier in her arms and applying ice to
stop the flow of blood from a wound. There was no-
body to relieve her, but once or twice when relief
was made available, the soldier begged so hard for
her to stay that she forgot her own weariness and ap-
plied the ice again.

On another occasion when the shells were fall-
ing in and around the hospital tent, she lifted the
wounded, one after another and carried them in her
arms to a place of greater safety.

^'^Mm^^^^^

This weathered granite shaft was erected to the mem-
ory of Mother George and her service to humanity by
the Indiana Sanitary Commission in 1865. It stands
in a triangular plot across the road from her virtually
unmarked grave in Lindenwood .

In spite of her tenderness with the men, she
could really get tough with the brass when the treat-
ment of "her boys" was at stake. The Indianapolis
NEWS reports,

On still another occasion, she found a soldier
suffering intense torture because the surgeon, in
dressing his wound, had drawn the ligatures too tight.
She went in search of the surgeon and found him
asleep. Awakening him, she told the story of the
ligatures and the suffering soldier. He refused to
loosen them and turned over to go to sleep again.
This fired Mrs. George, and she denounced him for
his heartlessness and declared she would take it on
herself to change the bandages. He told her that if
she did he would have her turned away from the hos-
pital. She defied him and loosened the bandages and
the soldier soon fell into a peaceful sleep.

The next morning there was open war between
her and the surgeon, but she so strongly appealed to
the Medical Director that the surgeon was dismissed
and ordered out of camp.

In the fall of 1864 Sherman's army returned
from Jonesboro to Atlanta. After burning Atlanta he
began his march to Savannah and the sea on November
15. Mother George, in need of a brief period of rest,
then took leave of the victory-flushed troops and re-
turned to Fort "Wayne. The tempting comforts of
home did not long contain her, however; she soon re-
turned to the fatigue and hardships of army life at
Nashville, Tennessee. Arriving here, enroute to
rejoin her old comrades at Atlanta, she found that
Sherman's Corps had resumed their march through
Georgia. As Sherman's forces abandoned their sup-
ply line and began to live off the land, communications
with his headquarters had been severed. Mother

George therefore spent the winter of 1864-65 at Nash-
ville. EXiring the siege of that city by General J. B.
Hood, the defeated Confederate general from Atlanta,
Mother George and two other ladies opened a Hospi-
tal. They tended those who were wounded not only
during the siege, but also from the subsequent battle
that saw the rout of the Confederate army which fled
across the Tennessee River.

Eliza George then composed the last letter
that research has been able to disclose. Dated Nash-
ville, Tennessee, December 8, 1864, it read:

The wind is whistling round the house, the
cannon booming in the distance and my heart is ach-
ing for the houseless, homeless, destitute women
whose husbands are in the Union Army, fighting for
their country's life. Oh, my children, turn your
thoughts away from every vain and superficial wish,
that you may have at least a mite to give to the needy.
Suffering is no name to apply to the many I see des-
titute of home and place to lay their head. You know
how like a cool draught of water to a thirsty soul, is
a letter to me from home; and you know I would write
if I could, but my time is not my own.

When the report reached her that Sherman was
in Savannah, Mother George became eager to return
to the troops. She reported to the agent of the Sani-
tary Commission at Indianapolis. Thereafter she re-
turned to Fort Wayne for a few days to await a new
assignment. She now learned that Agents of the Indi-
ana Sanitary Commission were about to leave New
York City for Savannah; she departed immediately to
join them. By an oversight, however, transportation
and a pass were not provided for Mother George and
the other agents sailed without her.

Without a pass it was impossible to procure

transportation or to pierce the Confederate lines.
Eliza George went to Washington, D. C. hoping to get
a pass. While waiting for the War Department to
fumble through the red tape and make out her papers,
she called on Dorothy Dix, Civilian figurehead of the
yet unorganized Army Nurse Corps. Mrs. Dix urged
Mother George to go to Wilmington, North Carolina,
where nursing help was desperately needed. Wil-
mington had just fallen before Union forces; civilian
and military suffering was intense.

The troops from her own Hoosier state were
always her prime concern. She feared that witli Mrs.
Dix, she would lose her identity as a representative
of Indiana. Therefore she hesitated to accept the new
assignment, but not for long. The authorities granted
the elderly Hoosier' s condition that she be allowed to
devote herself especially to such Indiana volunteers
as she might find at Wilmington. Simultaneously with
Mother George's arrival at Wilmington, 11,000 Union
prisoners were transferred thither from the stockade
at Salisbury. Their condition was deplorable. "Two
thousand of them had not a whole garment upon their
bodies; 200 had lost their feet by frost." Mother
George now devoted herself completely to these suf-
ferers.

Mother George literally worked herself to
death to provide some degree of comfort for these
liberated P.O.W.'s. Through long daylight hours she
supervised the manufacture of clothing. At night she
nursed the sufferers in the long rows of hospital tents.
Such exertions would exact their toll in a hurry, even
in a much younger person. For more than 2 years
she had taken only brief periods of rest. She had little
resistance to ward off an attack of the typhoid fever
which raged among the troops she was tending. Sud-
denly her system gave way. The Indiana Sanitary
Commission, on receiving the news, immediately

sent Dr. William H. Wi shard to her relief. For a
brief period she improved and preparations were
made to return her to Fort Wayne. She died, how-
ever, before these preparations could be completed,
on May 9, 1865. Her remains were returned to Fort
Wayne and on May 16, 1865, interred with military
honors in Lindenwood Cemetery.

On December 30 of the same year, the Linden -
wood Board on the petition of Sol D. Bayless granted
permission for the Indiana Sanitary Commission and
the Ladies Aid Society of Fort Wayne to erect a mon-
ument to Mrs. E. E. George on their grounds. The
inscription on the granite shaft which still stands to-
day reads:

Mrs. Eliza E. George
Born Oct. 20, 1808 at
Bridport, Vt. Died at
Wilmington, N. C.
May 9, 1865

. . . after faithfully aiding with her
friendly hands and cheering with her
Christian voice the sick and wounded
of our Army on the march, battlefields
and in the hospitals over 3 years, the
heroine fell at her post, honored and
loved by all that knew her .

Mother George stands in the first rank in the
long list of persons eminent in Fort Wayne's long
history. Her career of service to her country is a
matter of record, but the half century of her life prior
to that time is shrouded in mystery.

At the time of her death. Mother George was
a patriotic, devout widow, the loving mother of three
grown daughters. From the facts available today, the

story all but ends here.

Mrs. George was interred in Lindenwood
Cemetery in the Sion Bass family plot as are two of
her daughters. The only marker today for Mother
George's last resting place is the Sanitary Commis-
sion Monument across the road. In 1909 her daugh-
ter, Belle, who had married into the Bayless family,
died, was cremated and her ashes interred in her
mother's grave. The marker now reads Belle G.
Bayless, but if you look closely at the top of it, you
can just make out the inscription, "Our Mother
George. "

Next to that joint grave is that of Mary Ham-
ilton who died in 1856, but more important to this
story is the fact that she was born in Middlebury,
Vermont, in 1783, just a few miles from Mrs.
George's birthplace in Bridport.

It was the will and death certificate of Belle
Bayless, discovered recently in the St. Joseph, Mich-
igan County Courthouse that has shed the most light
on the mysterious private life of Eliza George. It
settled for all time the reason why Mrs. George and
two of her daughters were buried in the Sion Bass
family plot, by revealing the existence of a third
daughter, Eliza M. , who married Colonel Bass. Mrs.
Bass (ne George) was born April 18, 1834, in New
York. Although the actual marriage record could not
be located, there seems to be no doubt that it was she
and not Eliza Bayless, as was long believed, that was
the wife of Colonel Bass when he left to give his life
in the War Between the States. According to faint old
records located at the Trinity Episcopal Church, the
Widow Bass remarried, this time toW. W. Burritt,
on May 26, 1868, six years after Colonel Bass was
mortally wounded at Shiloh. The ceremony was per-
formed in the Bass parlour at 9p.m. on that date by
the Rev. Joseph S. Lange, the inscription reads.

i U i f iL. \J ^ I %J iJ

This stone, located in the Lindenwood plot of her
famous son-in-law, Sion Bass, is the only marker for
the final resting place of Mother George. Only a
search of the cemetery records disclosed the fact the
ashes of Belle Bayless had been interred in her moth-
er's (Mrs. George) grave. Careful examination of
the top of this stone discloses the weathered words,
"Our Mother George." A century later, these barely
visible words, still bring a thrill to the hearts of the
very few who know the legend of Fort Wa3me's great-
est heroine.

History fails to record the fate of Mr. Burritt, but
Eliza M. Bass, as her death certificate reads, died
February 13, 1914, in Sioux City, Iowa, where she
had been living with a daughter, Mrs. Georgia Black.

What strange twist of fate held the George
sisters together even after their marriage will prob-
ably never be known. It is a fact, however, that
sometime after the end of the Civil War, each of them
left Fort Wayne. Mrs. Belle Bayless, Mrs. Jane
(Jennie) M. Jones and Mrs. Eliza M. Bass in Septem-
ber of 1906 were all living in Benton Harbor, Mich.

The private life of Fort Wayne's great Civil
War heroine will remain forever a mystery, but the
scanty facts that are available might lead to a con-
clusion like this: (1) That Mary Hamilton was the
mother of Eliza George. (2) That Eliza and W. L.
George married in the east, moving to New York
State and eventually to Kentucky. (3) That Mary Ham-
ilton, Eliza George and her three daughters came to
Fort Wayne prior to 1856 and that Mary was nurse-
maid or "Nanny" to the growing young Sion Bass fam-
ily. (4) That on the death of Mary Hamilton, Eliza
took over the job, holding it until her departure for
the wars exactly one year after the death of Sion Bass.
Beyond these conclusions, the facts are too sketchy
even for conjecture.

Perhaps some day, the true story of the entire
life of Eliza George, Fort Wayne's greatest heroine,
will be known.

HECKMAN |±|
BINDERY INC. |§|

JUN95

Bo™a.To.P,e33.N^MANCHESTER,